On a trip home for some deer hunting with my dad in central michigan I opted to go with a 24" 30/06 barrel on my encore. I picked up a 3-9x50 Nikon prostaff with BDC for it because the price was very good for the clairty of the glass. NOrmally I have used mainly leupold and Ziess and havne't payed much attention to nikon. First thing I found was that it was a very nice clear scope and gathered a lot of light. I wasn't completely sold on the BDC reticle because I was afraid it was a little too "busy" for a hunting reticle. The heavier side and lower cross hairs showed up very well in low light and the circles where not a problem when using the crosshair. The scope gathered so much light and the crosshairs where visible well after legal shooting hours.
I really have to admit it works, and very well too. Sighted in at 100 yards with 165gr winchester PP ammo the cirlces worked out very well with bullet drop. Out to 400 yards it printed will within the circles, I didn't have a chance to shoot farther than 400. Accuracy was excellent and it was pretty consistant with click adjustment.
Considering the circles are 2moa it is pretty easy to use them as a range finding tool. I used them to check range estimation figuring that at 300 yards the circle would be 6" in daimeter, just over two circels deep was about right the the size of a whitetails chest.
I shot three deer with it, A buck at 300yards, hit perfectly using the 300 yard circle, a doe shot at 350 yards using the 300 yard circle held high on the shoulder, hit right where I wanted. , and a large doe at 90 yards.
Over all I give this scope a bug thumbs up. Great scope for the money and the BDC reticl works very well.
